Mataji Vanamali on the Hindu Concept of Mother Goddess

The first word uttered by the human infant is ‘Maa’. Our first relationship with the world is through the mother. She is the embodiment of love, tenderness, security and comfort and the source of all nourishment. To the infant she is indeed God.

To transfer this concept to a Cosmic Being who is the Mother of all, who nurtures and cares for all was but a step which all the ancient cultures took. Therefore the concept of the divine as the Mother is as old as life itself.

She is the eternal womb of all creatures, human, animal and sub-human. Whenever you see maternal love, in a bird or animal or human being, know it to be but a reflection of the Divine Mother’s love for her creation. She is the one who has given us birth but she is also the one who can free us from this mundane existence.

In her transcendental aspect she is Para Brahma Swaroopini or the form of the Para Brahman or the Absolute. They cannot exist separately, like the dynamo and the battery which charges it, one cannot exist without the other.

The Absolute Brahman is that which we cannot know or conceive. All that we know through our mind and senses is nothing but the manifestation of the Mother. Every conceivable form is the form of the goddess.

In essence she is nirguna or without qualities but when she manifests herself as this universe she become saguna or with form. She is Mula Prakriti or the original form of Nature.

She is the dot in the centre of energy which is the ultimate source of all the fields which western science is slowly discovering – the field of gravity, the electromagnetic field and the zero point field. Thus she is known as Parashakti or the ultimate force. Even though Einstein did not know of her as the Mother Divine, yet he dimly perceived her power and said, ‘The field is the only reality.’